UPDATE 1-Baosteel hikes Dec steel prices from November
* Baosteel cancels discounts for Dec key product sales
* Hot-rolled steel up 2.5 pct, cold-rolled up 6.4 pct (Adds details, interprets price movement)
BEIJING, Nov 11 (Reuters) - China's Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd (Baosteel) (600019.SS) raised prices for its key steel products for December sales via scrapping discounts implemented in November, an industry source said on Wednesday.
The move by Baosteel, the country's biggest steel mill which provides market benchmarks for flat products, was in line with expectations, since the price of iron ore, the key steel ingredient, has been rising in recent weeks [ID:nSHA283631]
After the adjustment, Baosteel's December price for hot-rolled steel coil was 4,042 yuan ($592.2) per tonne, 2.5 percent higher than its November tag, while the cold-rolled coil price was 4,976 yuan per tonne, up 6.4 percent.
Chinese steel prices have risen almost 10 percent over the past five weeks and traders have expected the country's major mills, such as Baosteel and Wuhan Iron and Steel (600005.SS), to increase their sale prices for December. [ID:nSHA374816] (For a table to show Baosteel's price adjustments in recent years, please click [ID:SHA334343]) ($1=6.825 Yuan) (Reporting by Coco Li and Tom Miles, Additional reporting by Alfred Cang; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
